Defending D-II singles champion George Jiang. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

No. 1 Catalina Foothills improved to 12-0 on the year thanks to a 5-4 win at No. 3 Salpointe. The loss dropped the Lancers to 9-2 overall and 1-1 in Division II, Secretion VII. With the win, the Falcons moved to 4-0 in the section and the team can claim the section title with a win at No. 18 Canyon del Oro (7-5, 2-1) on Wednesday night. 

The Falcons have won 83 matches in a row since a D-II semifinal playoff loss to Ironwood Ridge in 2013.  Coincidentally, Salpointe was the last team to beat the Falcons in a regular season match, a 5-4 setback on March 21, 2013. The win streak includes four straight state championships.

Catalina Foothills senior George Jiang won the D-II singles championship last year and the standout is slated to play doubles this year with Mason Lee. Lee took runner-up in doubles competition last year along with former Falcon standout Connor Oseran.

“I have the mindset to keep myself in check this year,” Jiang said. “Last year doesn’t mean much this year and, even though I’m not too familiar with doubles at state, I think we will do well.”

Salpointe sophomore Harsh Parikh beat Jiang 6-1, 6-4 on Tuesday night in the top singles spot but Parikh is scheduled to compete at a USTA national tournament in Tucson the same weekend the AIA state singles and doubles competition is taking place in Scottsdale.

“I will be playing in state competition this year,” Parikh explained. “We have really solid players and we compete well together. I’m really not focusing on my results and we are having fun.”

The state singles and doubles competitions are scheduled to start on Friday, April 20 for all three divisions while team competition starts on Wednesday. April 25. Team competition on the girl’s side starts on Tuesday, April 24.

 

Catalina Foothills 5, Salpointe 4

Harsh Parikh (SAL) over George Jiang, 6-1, 6-4

Mason Lee (CF) over Jack Mandala, 7-6, 6-0

Brendan Perry (CF) over Jackson Hartenbach, 6-3, 6-2

Jeevaj Bondalapati (CF) over Eric Cho, 6-4, 6-1

Frederick Dufwenberg (SAL) over Krishna Daiska, 6-0, 6-3

Kevin McDaniels (SAL) over Esteban Alvarez, 7-5, 2-6 (3)

Parikh/Hartenbach (SAL) over Jiang/Lee, 8-6

Perry/Bondalapati (CF) over Mandala/Dufwenberg, 8-4

Daiska/Mitchel Wilkinson (CF) over Cho/McDaniels, 8-6